Filling apparatus for storage batteries and the like



L. H. FLANDERS, DEVC'D.

. I. Y. FLANDERS. ADMINISTRATRIX FILLINGAPEARATUS FOR STORAGE BATTERlEs AND THE LIKE.

I APPLICATION FILED ]AN.28, |919. 1,392,632, Patented Oct. 4, 1921.

[TED STTES PATENT OFFICE.

LoUIs E. FLAIIDERS, or JENxINTowN, PENNSYLVANIA: Ina Y. FLAnDEns, .m-

MINISTRATEIX 0F SAID LoUIs, II MANDERS, DECEAsED, assumo ELECTRIC STORAGE BATTERY COMPANY, or

coEPoEATIoN or NEW JERSEY.

B T0 THE PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, A

FILLING AIPABATUS FOR STORAGE BATTERIES AN D THE IIXE.

.m application ala January 2s, 1919. serial No.

To all 4whom z't may concern.

Be it'knownthat I, LOUIS H. FLANDERS, a. citizen of the United States, and a resldent of Jenkintown, in the county of Montgomery and State of Pennsylvanla, have invented a certain new and useful Filling Apparatus for Storage Batteries and the like, of which the followin is a specification.

The principal obJects of the present inventionv are to provide a filling device adapted bo introduce liquid into a container and responsive to the level of liquid in the container for automatically cutting off the supply of liquidand if desired for sounding an alarm. To provide a filling device from which liquid will not drop when the device is being transferred from one container to another. To provide a' filling device especially adapted for introducing liquid to the ldesired levelinto battery jars or containers, even when the latter are in position on vehicles or the like, where they are comparatively inaccessible and to provide an eiliembodying features of the cient, reliable and durable filling device of the general character indicated.

The invention will be claimed at the end hereof, but will be first described in connection with the embodiment of it chosen for illustration in the accompanying drawings, in whichy Figure 1, is an elevational view of a filler invention. F1g.'2, is a. sectional view of a part of the v device, drawn to an enlarged scale.

Fig. 3, is a diagram of circuit connections, and Fig. 4, is a. transverse section on the line 4 4 of Fig. 1.

In the drawings 1 is a tubular handle adapted flor-.connection with a source of liquid supply, as by means of a flexible connectlon 2. 3,1's a conducting sleeve constitut-' a contact. 4, is a. conducting tube in- Su a ted from and extending through the sleeve 3 and adapted to function both as a nozzle and as a contact. The tube 4 is provided at or near its end with a valve seat 5 and it communicates ywith the opening through the handle. 6, is a valve normally held in closed position on its seat 5 by a spring 7 8, is a hand lever pivoted to the handle 1 and engaging the head of the spin- Specication of Letters Patent.

lside of the leads,

Patented Oct. 4, i921.

dle of the valve 6, so that the valve can be opened by the hand lever 8. On the hand lever 8 is the armature 9 of an electro-magnet 10 which is mounted on the handle 1.1

From a source of current l1 extend leads 12 and 13. The winding of the magnet 10 and a translating or signal device 14 having appreciable resistance are connected in series across these leads, and a circuit established A through the liquid in the container in a manner to be. presently described is connected across the magnet winding. A resistance l5 1s shown connected across the terminals of the'translating device. 16 is a switch for interrupting the circuit.

5It will be understood that the source of current 11 and signal device 14 are arranged atsome suitable place, for example, in a box, not shown, vcapable of transportation.

The tube 4 and conducting portion of the tubular handle marked for convenience l2 in Fig. 2, constitute a portion of lthe lead 12, and the lead 13 is shown as passing along the handle and over the pivot of the lever 8 and to the sleeve 3. The insulating covering.17 of the handle may be arranged outas shown in Fig. 4, and the lea'ds may run through a common cable 18,

"The mode of operation of the filling apparat'lis may be described as follows:

For this purpose reference will be made to the filling apparatus in v-connection with the introduction of water into storage battery tanks or jars, but the apparatus is not confined to that use.

The assemblage consisting of the sleeve 3 and tube 4 is adapted for insertion into the hole or opening in the top of the battery jar or lreceptacle by reason of the smooth cylindrical exterior of the sleeve 3 and the shoulder 19 serves to limit the extent to which the assemblage e'nters the interior of the jar. This may be adjustedby putting a washer beneath the shoulder 19 =and around the sleeve 3, but such a washer is not shown as it can be readily understood Without illustration. The spring 7 keeps the valve seated and the tube is connected .with a su ply of water or other fluid and the switcli 16 is closed. After the sleeve 3 has been inserted toward the handle 1 and thus opens the valve 6. The electro-magnet 10 holds the lever in the described position and so the valve 6 is held open. The level of the liquid rises in the jar or receptacle until finally the liquid establishes a circuit path between the tube 4 and the sleeve 3. This circuit path is of relatively low resistance in comparison with the winding 10 and by the law of branch circuits the eiect of this is to shunt the coil or magnet 10, thereby reducing the current that flows through it and so weakening its excitation that the lever 8 is no longer held by the magnet and the valve 6 is closed by its spring, cutting off the supply of liquid through the tubular handle 1. Another yeffect is that more current flows through the circuit than before and this in'- crease of current. in the lead 13 is suicient to operate the translating device 14 and give an alarm. In this connection it may be said that the shunt resistance 15 is adjusted to balance the translating device so that the latter will not be actuated when the current is relatively small, that is, whenthe contacts are not connected, and will be actuated when the current is relatively large, that is when the contacts are connected by a path of relatively low resistance.

Inasmuch as -the valve is thus automatically closed,'the jars are necessarily filled to the pre-determined level and as soon as that happens the alarm is given, indicating to the operator that it is time to fill another jar.

In moving the filling apparatus from one 'ar to another there is practically no, drip ecause the valve 6 is at practically the end of the tube 4.

What I claim is:

1. In a filling apparatus the combination of a self-closing manually openable valve, a hand lever for operating said valve, an electro-magnet sutlicient for holding the hand leverin open position and insufficient for opening said valve, and contacts and their circuit connections for weakening the excitation of the winding while maintaining its continuity to ermit the valve to close.

2. In a lling apparatus the combination of a valve, an electro-magnet for holding the valve in open position and means responsive to liquid level and adapted to reduce and maintain at lower value the excitation of the magnet.

3. In a filling apparatus the combination of a valve, 'a magnet sutiicient for holding the valve in open position and insufficient for opening it','a circuit for the magnet, and means including a resistance and responsive to liquid level and adapted to shunt the magnet circuit.

4. In filling a paratus a tubular handle having at its out et a spring closed valve, a

'hand lever pivoted to the handle and connected to the valve for opening it, an electromagnet and its armature interposed between the handle and lever for electro-magnetically holding the lever and valve in open position, and contacts and circuit connections for shunting current `from the electromagnet without opening its circuit.

5. In a filling-.apparatus the combination of a source of current and its leads, fluid contacts and a valve holding magnet in parallel relation across the leads, and an alarm translating device between the source and the parallel circuits and adapted to operate as a resistance, lsubstantially as described.

6. In a filling apparatus the combination of a source of current and its leads, fluid contacts and a valve holding magnet in Aparallel relation across the leads, an alarm translating device between the source and the parallel circuits, and a -`shunt around the alarm device, substantially as described.

7. A filling apparatus comprising the combination of a tubular handle provided at its outlet with a self-closing valve, an electromanet on the handle sutiicient to hold open an insufiicient to open the valve, a hand operated lever pivoted to the handle and adapted to open the valve and to be held inopen position by the magnet, and contacts and circuit connections for causing the magnet to release the lever.

8. In a filling apparatus an alarm device, a valve, a winding and its armature for electro-magnetically holding open the valve and fluid level responsive circuit connections adapted to simultaneously divert current from the Winding and increase the current through the alarm device.

LOUIS H. FLANDERS. 

